FREE SERVICE PRICE CALCULATOR
Stop pricing jobs off the top of your head. Enter your costs, set a profit margin, and see exactly what to charge.
Workforce management for shift-based teams
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What a service price calculator does
A service price calculator works backward from your costs to the price you should charge. You enter what a job costs to deliver: labor, materials, and a slice of your overhead. Then you set the profit margin you want to keep, and it hands you a price that covers everything with your profit on top.
It's made for trades and home-service crews that quote by the job: cleaning, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, handyman, general contracting. The point is simple. Never quote a number that quietly loses you money.
How to use this service price calculator
Enter the cost of one job, set your margin, and read the price. Everything stays in your browser.
- Enter labor. How many workers, how many hours, and your fully burdened hourly rate.
- Add materials. The parts and supplies the job needs, plus a markup if you charge one.
- Set your margin. The share of the price you want to keep as profit. Most service businesses start around 20%.
- Check overhead. Open the overhead section and enter your monthly expenses and billable hours, so each job carries its share.
How the price is calculated
The price is three costs added up, then divided so your margin is a true share of the final number.
- Labor
- Workers × hours × your fully burdened hourly rate. Burdened means wages plus payroll taxes, insurance, benefits, and tool costs, not just the take-home wage.
- Materials
- What the parts and supplies cost you, plus any markup you add on materials. 15–35% is typical.
- Overhead
- Your fixed monthly costs (rent, software, vehicles, admin), spread across each job as monthly expenses ÷ billable hours × job hours.
Example. A two-day job runs $280 labor, $200 materials, and $267 overhead. That's $747 in direct cost. At a 20% margin, the price is $747 ÷ (1 − 0.20) = $934, which leaves about $187 profit. Same 20% margin, 25% markup over cost.
Margin vs markup, and why it matters
Markup is profit measured against your cost. Margin is profit measured against the price the client pays. They're not the same number, and mixing them up is the fastest way to underprice. A 20% markup on $100 of cost gets you a $120 price. But that's only a 16.7% margin, because $20 is 16.7% of $120.
This calculator prices on margin, so the percentage you enter is the share of revenue you actually keep. It also shows the equivalent markup, so you can check it against the rule of thumb you already use. When in doubt, set the margin you need to stay in business and let the markup fall out of it.
Typical markup by trade
Markups move with the trade, the risk, and what your competitors charge. Use these as a gut check, not a rule.
| Trade | Typical markup | Why |
|---|---|---|
| General construction | 10–30% | High material volume keeps the percentage lower |
| Electrical & handyman | 15–35% | Licensed skill and call-out time command more |
| HVAC & painting | 20–35% | Equipment, prep, and warranty risk add up |
| Plumbing | 20–40% | Emergency work and code liability raise the floor |
| Roofing | 20–40% | Weather, safety, and waste push it higher |
Pulled from contractor pricing guides and field-service benchmarks. Starting points, not gospel. Adjust for your market.
Common pricing mistakes to avoid
Most underpricing comes from leaving real costs out of the math. Watch for these.
- Using raw wages instead of a burdened rate. Payroll taxes, insurance, and benefits can add 20–30% on top of the wage. Price on the burdened number.
- Forgetting overhead. Rent, software, vehicles, and admin time don't bill themselves. If a job doesn't carry its share, your margin is smaller than it looks.
- Confusing markup with margin. A 30% markup is only a 23% margin. Decide the margin you need, then price to it.
- Skipping non-billable time. Travel, quoting, and callbacks eat hours you can't invoice. Build them into your rate or your overhead.
Frequently asked questions
What profit margin should I aim for?
For most service and trade businesses, a net margin of 10–25% is healthy, and 20% is a common target. Thinner than 10% leaves no cushion for slow months or surprises. Higher is doable for specialized work. Pick the margin you need to cover the slow stretches and reinvest, then price every job to hit it.
What's the difference between margin and markup?
Markup is profit as a percentage of your cost. Margin is profit as a percentage of the price the client pays. A 25% markup equals a 20% margin. This tool prices on margin, so the number you set is the share of revenue you actually keep, and it shows the matching markup next to it.
What should I include in my labor rate?
Use a fully burdened rate, not the take-home wage. Add payroll taxes, workers' comp and liability insurance, benefits, paid time off, and tool or vehicle costs. That burden often adds 20–30% on top of the base wage, and leaving it out is the number-one reason crews underprice.
How do I figure out my overhead per job?
Add up your fixed monthly expenses (rent, software, vehicles, admin pay, marketing), then divide by the billable hours your team books in a month. That gives you an overhead cost per billable hour, which the calculator multiplies by the job's hours. Enter both numbers in the overhead section.
Should I price hourly or by the job?
Either works, as long as the math underneath is the same. Flat-rate pricing is easier on clients and rewards you for working fast, but you still have to estimate hours to build the price. That's exactly what this tool does. Use it to set the flat price, then quote that one number.
Is this calculator free?
Yes. No sign-up, no tracking, no upsell. Everything runs and saves in your browser. ShiftFlow builds free tools to help shift-based and field teams run a tighter business. If you want to track the real hours behind these estimates, there's a 14-day trial of the app.
Why does my estimated price keep losing money on real jobs?
Almost always because the hours or costs in the estimate were too optimistic. Compare the hours you quoted against the hours actually worked, then adjust your inputs. Tracking real labor time per job, with a tool like ShiftFlow, closes that gap so your next quote reflects what the work really takes.
How much should I charge for a job?
It depends on your trade and market — there's no flat rate. Add up the labor hours, materials, and a share of overhead for the job, then apply your target margin. A handyman, an HVAC tech, and a lawn-care crew all land at different numbers because their costs and going rates differ. Use the calculator above to price from your own numbers, and check the typical markup by trade section as a sanity check.
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Know your price. Now know your real hours.
Your price is only as good as the hours behind it. ShiftFlow tracks what your crew actually spends on each job, so your next quote is built on real numbers, not guesses.
EXPLORE THE APPPrice smarter. Track the hours behind every job.
94%
Less admin time
18%
Lower payroll cost
12 hours
Saved per manager per week